Miranda Alm feels naked without her cell phone.
“I feel like a part of me is gone,” she said. “I’m just so used to having it in my hand all the time.”
The journalism freshman is one of many adults who have become attached to the use of their cell phone — even to the point of avoiding social interaction.
A study by The Pew Research Center, “Americans and Their Cell Phones,” released Aug. 15, found that 83 percent of Americans own some type of cell phone. Moreover, 13 percent of cell phone owners pretend to use their cell phone in order to avoid interaction with people around them.
Sociology senior Rebeca Martinez also has used her cell phone to avoid social interaction.
“I take the light rail. If I just kind of want to get to school and not really communicate with anybody I just play on my phone,” Martinez said.
Because Martinez’s HTC Evo is an important tool in her everyday life, she rarely turns it off, utilizing it to bypass others.
“I literally do everything on my phone, from banking to social networking,” Martinez said.
Pew’s analysis found that 27 percent of all of adult cell phones owners had trouble doing something because they did not have their phone at hand.
The study also found that 51 percent of adult cell phone users “had used their phone at least once to get information they needed right away.”
When Martinez forgets her phone, it is a problem.
“I freak out,” she said. “I was half-way (to campus) and I turned around to go get my phone. Not having my phone feels like I lost a limb.”
ASU alumnus David Moakley has mixed feelings when he doesn’t have his phone.
“At first I feel naked but then it’s strangely liberating,” Moakley said.
Moakley uses his phone several times a day because of his job as a tutor for the SAT and ACT.
His phone helps him keep in constant communication with his students and their parents, Moakley said.
He also uses his cell phone to avoid certain social situations.
“If there is a situation which I would like to sort of politely duck out, I’ll sometimes pretend to get a text message from a friend that summons me elsewhere,” Moakley said.
Reach the reporter at rjmccul1@asu.edu